Dental unit



DENTAL UNIT Filed May 21, 1945 INVENTOR William I We? ,BY rflv'u-JK HTTOTQNEY Patented Jan. 18, 1949 UNITED" STAT-Es PA E rf o rIcep DENTAL UNIT William J. Meier, New York, N. Y.

Application May 21, 1945, Serial No. 594,991

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to improvements in dental appliances, particularly to a new and useful dental unit, and it is the principal object of the invention to provide a light support which is mounted in such a manner as to be readily moved in order to always point directly to the tooth on which the dentist is operating, and to brightly illuminate the same and which can be locked in its adjusted position.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a dental unit adapted to be adjustably secured to a dentists chair and including a goose-neck support to which the light socket supporting arm is connected by a swivel joint, so as to readily assume any desired position relatively to the tooth to be treated, in order to illuminate the same brightly while the arms of the dentist remain free to operate.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a dental unit including a connection to an air supply to blow away dust and particles loosened by the operations on the teeth, and also to prevent the patient's breath to strike and comingle with that of the dentists.

A further object of my invention is to provide a dental unit including a connection with a source of water supply, especially a saline solution, to alleviate bleeding of the gums and to carry ofi undesirable matter.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fixture combining a light with an air and water nozzle in such juxtaposition and relation that the nozzle and light may both enter the patients mouth and be adjustably supported there while leaving both hands of the dentist free to operate.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a dental unit which is comparatively simple and inexpensive in its construction, yet durable and highly emcient in use.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will become more fully known as the description thereof proceeds and will then be specifically defined in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a dental unit constructed according to my invention.

Fig. 2 is a setcion on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an inner end elevation.

As illustrated, a goose-neck It has its lower end connected to a socket ll adapted to be adjustably connected to the back-rest l2 of a dentists chair by means of a screw l3 or the like preferably operated by a hand-wheel I4 while 2 the screw is passed through the socket to engage the back-rest I2.

The upper end of the goose-neck has secured thereto by means of a swivel-joint 15 one end of a flexible arm It the lower end of which has secured thereto by means of a ball and socket connection I! adapted to be regulated by a thumb nut l8, and comprised at the outer end of arm t9, the latter extending perpendicularly to the axis of bore or light socket 20 to which a hollow nozzle 2| is attached by means of a set screw 22 for an air and water hose and so that the light 23 in its holder or socket 20 can be readily turned to assume any desired angle towards a tooth to be illuminated and locked in its adjusted position by a set screw 21.

The nozzle 2| is slidable and rotatable in bore 25 of eye 24 and fixable by set screw 22. Eye 24 and socket 20 are preferably formed from a single block of material, and bore 26 of socket 20 ands bore 25 of eye 24 are in fixed and close parallel relation. Nozzle 2| is curved intermediate its length so that by sliding it until the curved portion is at least partly forward of setscrew 22, rotation of nozzle 2! in eye 24 will result in an adjustable divergence of the direction of nozzle 2| from parallelism with light 23, the adjusted relative position being fixable by set screw 22. The direction of light 23 and nozzle 28 as a-unit may then be adjusted and set by thumb nut [8.

It will be understood that I have described and shown the preferred form of my invention as one example only of the many possible ways to practically construct the same and that I may make such changes in its general arrangement and in the construction of its minor details as come within the scope of the appended claim without departure from the spirit of my invention and the principles involved.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is:

In a dental unit, the combination of means for supporting a light and an air nozzle in operative relation to a patients mouth comprising a block of material formed with two bores in close, substantially parallel relation, said block comprising an arm extending substantially perpendicularly to the axis of said bores, said arm comprising at its outer end means for angularly adjustable engagement with a support means said block farther comprising separate clamp means in operative relation to each of said bores.

WILLIAM J. MEIER.

(References on following page) 3 REFERENCES CITED 1,714,412 Weber May 21, 1929 Name Date Weitz Sept. 2, 1930 Blodgett Oct. 17, 1933 Weinreb Dec. 26, 1939 Gibbons et a1. June 30, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain 1895 France Nov. 14, 1932 

